The International Quranic Center denounces the Copts massacre on October 9-2011

By: Ahmad Subhi Mansour

1-     The content of this condemning statement has been issued repeatedly by the I.Q.C. It has been preceded by likewise statements during Mubarak’s regime. We now repeat these condemnations and denunciations during Mubarak’s Generals’ regime. In all those statements we have stressed the core of this issue: Military oppression and Salafi extremism. The crisis accumulates taking a dangerous turn with the Generals’ army entering the fray against the Copts, rapidly enhancing Egypt’s barreling towards a civil war that will consume everything. Arms are readily available; souls are overcharged with anger and sense of subjugation, religious slogans are ready on both sides exhorting their followers to fight and sacrifice themselves, and the remnants of the former regime anxious to burn Egypt in revenge to what happened to them.

2-     The sidelining of Copts began during Nasser’s regime, and for the next 40 years it became an expression of religiosity when Sadat, then Mubarak allowed the Salafis to have dominance over the religious life of Egyptian Muslims. Transgressions against Copts started with the Khanka incident at the outset of Sadat regime, and then it became the norm under Mubarak to divide Egypt along religious lines to maintain his power and wealth. The Copts met this oppression with hatred and animosity toward Islam as a religion, and with the availability of satellite broadcast, their vicious attacks against Islam, in turn ignited the Salafi extremism against them. With the continuous agitation and counter agitation, Egyptians turned into two opposing camps, but they united on January 25^th, leading to the triumph of their revolution. Then the Salafis usurped this victory and the remnants of the former regime and the Generals manipulated it, their most effective weapon in their arsenal to achieve their purpose was attacking the Copts and their churches. With the general election drawing nearer, and the demands for the military to return to their barracks getting stronger and stronger, and with minimizing the influence of Mubarak’s remnants, the threats to immerse Egypt in chaos and to secede Upper Egypt from the country, grew louder. It was evident to the observer, their playing the sectarian card, since Upper Egypt is more populated with Copts, and since the region is rife with factional tendencies and opposing gangs, making easy to target Copts and burn their churches.

3-     If Mubarak’s Generals were sincere about extinguishing this riot, they would’ve enacted laws that dealt with the root of this problem, laws that allow the establishment of Houses of Worship on equal footing and without any obstacles. Neither Egypt nor Islam will be harmed with the construction of a million churches throughout Egypt. As a matter of fact, and according to Imam Ellayth Ibn Sa’d, a Muslim scholar, building of churches is of the essence of civilization. Imagine if Egypt received $10 Billion from the West to build churches, the ones who would benefit from it the most would be Egyptian Muslims. By the same token, if the Salafis were to build thousands of mosques, the beneficiaries would be the Egyptians, and in both cases, churches and mosques will not overfill with attendees, forcing their respective overseers to convert them into centers for social services that benefit people at large. There is absolutely no harm in building more churches and more mosques, as long as they are being done according to applicable laws concerning average dwellings, with laws criminalizing and prohibiting exploiting houses of worship for political reasons or advocating violence. With emphasis that churches and mosques are centers for promoting virtues and higher values, like freedom, justice, human rights and peace, values that are regarded by all as the real essence of all religions.

4-     But since Mubarak’s Generals lived for 40 years, under the sway of Wahhabi Salafi culture, suckling it along with the Egyptian people, then the building of a church becomes one major offense as it would be in the Saudi classification.

5-     Worse than all, is the mentality of a Muslim soldier or a Muslim officer in the Egyptian army who is charged with the task of quelling the Copts’ uprising…According to and due to Salafi instigation, it would be a small matter to shed Coptic blood…what is tragic here, is the Egyptian army’s combat doctrine which requires an Egyptian soldier or an Egyptian officer to protect and defend an Egyptian citizen, which is being transformed into a Salafi doctrine that regards Jihad as persecuting Copts and aiding in destroying their religious establishments, consequently, the Coptic soldier and Coptic officer will rebel and a civil war will ensue within the army itself, causing arms depot to be plundered and its contents reaching the hands of warring factions. As with all civil wars, and as with major internal conflicts, the leadership, in this case, Mubarak’s Generals, his remnants, most Sheikhs and most priests will be its first victims.

6-     We are fed up with repeating the same advice and the same admonition… for reforms in all its aspects, religious, political, social and economical. Political corruption is in a tight embrace with religious corruption at both levels, Copts and Muslims. We are fed up because the sheikhs are the same sheikhs, because the priests are the same priests, because the military is the same military. The same stupidity, the same stubbornness, the same preliminaries for a civil war.

Finally…. As we exhaust our reservoir of condemnations, denunciations, advices and admonitions, we have nothing left but to pray to God Almighty to save Egyptians from themselves…..where the tragedy of Iraq would not be repeated.